Upright piano.



S. BRAMBACH.

UPRIGHT PIANO.

I APPLICATION FILED APR. 6,1915. 1 210 593 Patented Jan.'2,1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

III I S. BRAMBACH.

UPRIGHT PIANO.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 6 195- I 1,210,593, Patented Jan. 2,1917.

2 SHEETSSHEET z.

Wu muo- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

STEPHEN BRAMIBACH, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A SSIGN OR TO BRAMBACH PIANOCOMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

U'PRIGHT PIANO.

Application filed April 6, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, STEPHEN BRAMBACH,

a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county ofNew York and State of New York, have invented a new and useful UprightPiano, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an upright piano and particularly to certainimprovements in the frame construction thereof.

It is the object of my invention to secure in an upright piano certainof the peculiar advantages in tone production heretofore found only inpianos of the grand type.

With this general object in view one feature of my invention relates tothe provision in the back frame of an upright piano of a continuouscurved frame member, said member being of great strength in itself andbeing commonly reinforced by a plurality of braces disposed in the planeof said member and upwardly converging. This angular disposition of thebraces corresponds in a general way with the lines of string tension andenables them to resist the strain of the wires or strings to the bestadvantage.

In a piano of the grand type the sounding l'fmld is nrily limited to thesize of the back frame, as the outer casing of the piano conformsclosely thereto. At certain points this limitation in the size of thesounding board is objectionable.

Accordingly it is another feature of my invention to provide acontinuous curved frame member in combination with a sounding boardwhich at certain points extends beyond the frame member. By thisarrangement I secure additional sounding area in that portion in whichthe sounding board has been heretofore undesirably restricted. Thesounding board thus extended beyond the continuous curved member issupported upon special curved blocks secured in the corners of the outerframe of the piano.

A still further feature of my invention relates to the manner in which Isupport the plate upon the continuous curved member. The plate issecured to the pin block at its upper edge in the usual manner but isotherwise supported onliyr by a series of sounding posts passing eelythrough openings in the sounding board and secured in the continuouscurved member. I thus construct a tone producing structure from whichimproved results are obtained. The

Specification of Letters ratent.

Patented Jan. 2, 1917.

Serial No. 19,587.

tone produced thereby is found to be of a superior uality.

A pre erred form of the invention is shown in the drawings, in whichFigure 1 is a rear view of an upright piano; Fig. 2 is a partialsectional view taken along the line 2-2 in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is anelevation of the treble end of the piano shown in Fig. 1, the view beingpartly in section along the line 33 in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a horizontaldetail section taken along the line 44 in Fig. 1; and Fig. 5 is anenlarged detail view of a portion of the curved frame member.

Referrin to the drawin s, the iano is provided with the usual uprightside frame members 10 and 11, bottom frame member 12 and upper framemember or pin block 13, the latter being formed of a plurality oflayers, each of substantial thickness as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

Within the rectangle bounded by the frame members 10, 11, 12 and 13 Iprovide a continuous curved frame member 14, best shown in Fig. 1. Thetwo ends of the curved member extend upwardly and are framed into thelower face of the pin block. The member itself has a laminatedstructure, being formed of a plurality of strips of thin wood firmlyglued to each other. These strips are commonly continuous from end toend, but the frame may be made of shorter strip portions having thejoints broken in such a way that they form substantially a singleintegral frame member, this form of construction being shown in Fig. 5.

For the purpose of additionally strengthening the frame member 14, Iprovide a plurality of braces 15 in the plane of the frame member, saidbraces being secured at their lower ends to the member itself and attheir upper ends to the pin block 13. The braces 15 converge upwardlyand are disposed at angles which correspond in general to the directionof strain of the piano wires.

The usual sounding board 16 is secured at its upper edge to a portion ofthe pin block 13 and along a portion of its lower edge to the bottomframe member 12. Reference to Fig. 1 will show that the sounding board16 extends beyond the curved member 14 in the lower left hand portion ofthe back, the outer edge of this portion of the sounding board beingsecured to a curved laminated block 17 supported by the frame members 10and 12. At the opposite upper corner the edge of the sounding board issimilarly secured to a curved block 18 supported by the frame members 11and 13. I find that the tone quality is much improved by the provisionof the blocks 17 and 18 which support the sounding board.

The string plate of the piano .is indicated at 19, being secured alongits upper edge to the pin block 13 invthe usual manner. In the ordinaryuprightconstruction the plate extends to the bottom frame and is securedalong itslower edge to the frame member 12. In my improved construction,however, I secure the plate to the curved member let by screws 90passing through posts or bushings 21 and fixed in the frame member 1 1-.I provide corresponding openings in the sounding board, said openingsbeing of greater diameter than the posts and permitting the posts topass freely therethrough. In this way the string plate is firmly securedto the continuous curved frame member and vibrates therewith while 1totherwise free from the piano frame, except along its upper edge.

The combination of these several features enables me to reproduce withgreat accuracy the tone qualities of the grand piano, while alsosecuring the advantages of the upright piano with reference to the spaceoccupied thereby.

Having thus described my invention it will be evident that changes andmodificas tions can be made therein by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope thereof as set forth in the claims,and I do not wish to be otherwise limited to the details hereindisclosed, but

lVhat I do claim is 1. An upright piano having a rectangular back frameincluding a pin block as one member thereof, a continuous supplementarycurved frame member disposed wlthm said back frame and engaging saidframe on the bottom. and-two sides thereof with a plurality of openingstherein at a substantial distance from the edges thereof, a string platesecured to thepin block at its upper edge, and a series of separatedsound posts each extending freely throughone of. said openings and fixedto said curved member, said posts and pin block constituting the entiresupport of said string plate.

3. An upright piano lmving, in combination, a sounding board having aplurality of openings therein, a back framc'including a pin block and acontinuous curved member joined at its two ends to said pin'blockadjacent the opposite ends thereof, a plurality of upwardly convergingbraces secured in the plane of and between said curved member and saidpin block, a string plate secured at its upper end to the pin block, anda plurality of sound posts extending freely through said openings in'thesound ingboard and fixed. to said curved member, said posts and pinblock constituting the entire support of said string plate.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

STEPHEN: BRAMBAGH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. U.

